Blood Pressure, Common Sense & Salty Language

photo Utah salt flats

Firmly established conventional guidelines on blood pressure and salt are finally eroding. It’s about time. For decades I’ve guided my patients along a different path, telling them that I am not concerned by their blood pressure in my office and that they need salt to live. Both of these blood pressure-related opinions have gotten me in […]

Calcium and D Don’t Build Bone Right

We are supposed to make mistakes so that we learn.  Sometimes medical authorities, especially those who issue official guidelines, are remarkably intellectually dull.   A current example is the US Preventive Services Task Force recommendation not to take vitamin D and calcium to prevent bone fractures. If they were correct, if this were based upon […]

The Wisdom of Effective Annual Health Screening

photo Joseph Bell

A recent article in the NY Times caught my eye.  I couldn’t have agreed more, and also less.  Titled “Let’s (Not) Get Physicals”, it was a reflection on the problems with conventional routine physical exams.  http://www.nytimes.com/2012/06/03/sunday-review/lets-not-get-physicals.html?pagewanted=all The time-honored tradition has been for a thoughtful patient to see her/his doctor for an annual exam.  The article […]

The Foods You Chose Can Help You Lose, or Not

The Foods You Choose Can Help You Lose, Or Not Many people think that Americans are obsessed with celebrity, politics or some sport.  Yes, we are, but our chief obsession is not on that list.  Americans are truly obsessed with weight, especially losing it. One reason exercise is so important for those losing weight and […]

Be Careful What You Swallow

A study was just published with exclamatory headlines warning about vitamin D and calcium raising the risk of kidney stones.  They studied the blood and urine of 163 healthy, postmenopausal women for a year.  Investigators gave the women from 0-4,800 iu of vitamin D and raised their calcium to 1,200 – 1,400 mg/day. 1/3 of […]